Re: RAID-7 - What is the data organization?

Michael E Willett wrote: > > lindahl@deshaw.com (Greg Lindahl) writes: > > >In article <327A15D4.1DA5@dddv.com>, > >Charles A. Dellacona <cdellaco@chester.dddv.com> wrote: > > >>In my reading RAID-7 appears occasionally. I am trying to figure out > >>what it is, most of the internet info is very sales oriented. I want a > >>little more depth. > > >RAID-7 is a marketing slogan, not a real raid level. > > >It is apparently like RAID-4 with some caches. > > >Given the obnoxious Usenet posting philosophy of the company that > >sells RAID 7, I would advise not doing business with them. > > >Given your requirements (2 GB of data generated each week, store it > >for a year), I would recommend that you pursue solutions which are > >flexible, i.e. raid devices which allow you to have many separate 16 > >gigabyte RAID volumes. Some RAID hardware (like the before-mentioned > >RAID7 product) only allow you to have one volume. If you will be using > >a database product on this device, it is also often a good idea to be > >able to create a small mirrored set of disks to hold your transaction > >logs. > > >-- g > > Hi Greg, we appreciate your enthusiasm for that particular RAID > product you're involved with, but let's not get carried away > with your "attack ads" -- even though it's November :-) The fact > of the matter is that the May issue of Business Week reported that > the RAID 7 company is the US' 4th fastest growing US publicly held > company over the past three years, in terms of earnings. RAID 7 > installations are heavily concentrated in bthe ig databases, whether > Oracle, Sybase, or Informix. > > M Willett > mwillett@storage.com > Storage Computer > Nashua, NH Wow. I guess I hit a nerve. I didn't realize how pointed my question was. Mr. Willett, I assume from the above that you are an employee of Storage Computer Company. I've read the WWW information at www.storage.com and I didn't find my answer, so I'll ask it here of you. What is the data organization of RAID-7? I've so far gleaned that it is a block striping concept, similar to levels 4 and 5. I also understand that the Storage Computer controller incorporates extensive caching and an embedded operating system that manages all I/O asynchronously. These are independent of the storage organization. Charlie